Post #3

My top five strengths according to StrengthsQuest are adaptability, input, intellection, analytical, and deliberative. Some of these surprised me, while others did not. The three strengths that I was completely unsurprised by were intellection, analytical, and deliberative. I have always considered myself to be an introspective, thoughtful person. I've also always considered my greatest strengths to come from my intelligence and ability to think things through thoroughly, while also being careful not to disclose too much information. While initially I was a little bit surprised by the presence of adaptibility on my strengths list, after thinking about it for some time it made sense to me. I have never been someone who needed a lot of structure, preferring to go with the flow. I rarely plan things out beforehand, and while this annoys people sometime (namely my mom) it has always been the best way for me to complete projects and assignments. The wild card for me in the top five was input. When I first saw the word, I had no idea what it was supposed to mean. It only confused me more when I saw that people with input as their strength were supposed to exhibit some sort of magpie-like hoarding tendencies, which doesn't describe me at all. However, in a less physical sense, I am a collector. I love having a broad knowledge base, and pride myself on knowing at least a little bit about a lot of different things, ranging from music to science. Now that I have a concrete list of some of my best strengths, I think applying it to leadership should be relatively simple. I know that I will never be the charismatic leader who uses their charm to pull a group in a certain direction, but I can use my broad knowledge base and deliberative nature to make sure that we are making the right decisions. In the last month, I have seen myself use each of my five strengths. When I hadn't studied enough for an exam, I was able to use my intellection and input to draw on previous knowledge from other classes and still do well. I used the rest of my strengths while working on a project at the free clinic that I volunteer at, using a combination of deliberation, analysis, and adaptability to successfully translate a colonoscopy preparation guide into Spanish for native speakers who do not know English. Knowledge of my strengths will definitely allow me to succeed in both leadership and in other projects.